Like a disco ball, leotards come back around

The leotard, that vestige of disco nights and Jane Fonda days, is seeing new life in American Apparel stores, vintage boutiques and on fashion magazine covers, riding the same wave of 1970s and '80s nostalgia that brought the scourge of skinny jeans and leggings to the runways for fall.

"This has been a year of disco for her," says Madonna's stylist Arianne Phillips, who designed the costumes for the concert tour along with Jean-Paul Gaultier. "There have been lots of inspirations -- everything from 'Saturday Night Fever,' to 'Starlight Express' to 'Fame.' "

Still a fashion force at 47, Madonna wears several leotards in the show. And if you didn't already know that she works out three hours a day, it becomes abundantly clear when you see her jumping around like a modern Jack LaLanne with nary a dimple in sight. At the opening of the disco portion of the show, Madonna rips off a white John Travolta suit with a flick of the wrist to reveal a one-shouldered unitard with ribbons of purple Swarovski crystals rippling across the torso, a replica of a costume worn by Abba in the late 1970s.

Then, for a finale, Madonna strips to something even skimpier -- a smoky purple tank leotard, worn with flesh colored fishnet stockings cut to the knee. Both styles were custom made by Bill Hargate Costumes in West Hollywood, and Madonna gets fresh ones every week.

The leotard is named after French aerialist Jules Leotard, who debuted the body-clinging garment in 1859 when he performed his first flying trapeze act. His was a full-body, hand-knit jersey creation that stretched from the ankles to the wrists, more of a unitard really. And legend has it the way his assets were displayed was as much a part of attracting crowds to the Cirque Napoleon as his high-flying feats.

Performers in every arena, from ballet to burlesque, followed Leotard's lead, including showgirls who wore flesh-colored body stockings under their corsets so they would look flawless when they stripped down to (almost) nothing.

Male ballet dancers wore full full-body leotards with short trunks on top until Vaslav Nijinsky left his off during a performance in Russia in the early 1900s, says Kevin Jones, curator at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. "The czarina, who had a box close to the stage, had quite a shock."